Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electrical connecting structure in a motor vehicle for electrically connecting components of the motor vehicle to a cable harness, and to a method for functionally checking an internal combustion engine at the end of the mounting conveyor belt of a mounting line.
The configuration of an electrical cable harness for connecting all the electrical components of a motor vehicle depends in particular on the installation location of the engine controller and on the test strategy with which, after the mounting of the internal combustion engine for the motor vehicle, its operational capability is checked and tested. Here, basically two different strategies for the functional testing of internal combustion engines after they have been mounted are known in the vehicle industry.
When there is a cable harness structure for an installation location of the engine controller which is separated from the internal combustion engine, the engine controller is normally not available for functional checking at the end of the mounting conveyor belt of the internal combustion engine. For this reason, the functional checking of the internal combustion engine typically takes place in the state in which it is already installed in the motor vehicle, which has the disadvantage that when faulty functioning is detected the internal combustion engine has to be removed from the motor vehicle again and transported for disassembly and/or for further checking to another location in the fabrication line.
Another cable harness structure in which the engine controller is arranged directly on the internal combustion engine in the engine compartment, and is thus already available for functional checking at the end of the conveyor belt of the mounting line is also known. This availability for functional checking is at the same time one of the most important reasons why engine controllers are often mounted directly on the internal combustion engine. A disadvantage however with this installation location are the temperature and ambient influences which act on the engine controller and which make sealed encapsulation and shielding of this component necessary. A further disadvantage of the installation location in the engine compartment is that it is usually not possible to employ any universal software in the test unit for the functional checking of various types of engine, and instead the software has to be adapted to each type of engine, and thus also to each engine controller.
The object of the present invention is to make available an electrical connecting structure, and in particular a cable harness structure, in a motor vehicle which permits simple and reliable functional checking at the end of the mounting conveyor belt of an internal combustion engine.
This object of the invention is achieved with an electrical connecting structure for electrically connecting electrical and electronic components of a motor vehicle to an electrical cable harness mounted in the motor vehicle is provided. This cable harness comprises a first central electrical plug-type connection terminal for connecting the cable harness to a central electronic engine controller which is mounted in the vehicle body separately from an internal combustion engine.
In addition, the cable harness comprises a second central electrical plug-type connection terminal to form a central corresponding plug of the internal combustion engine which corresponds to said plug-type connection terminal. Such a structure has the advantage that, on the one hand, the engine controller and internal combustion engine can be installed separately from one another in the vehicle, which is advantageous in particular owing to the costly shielding with respect to temperature and ambient influences, which can thus be dispensed with. In addition, with such a structure there is the simple possibility of performing functional checking of the internal combustion engine after it has been mounted by connecting a test unit to a central electrical plug-type connection terminal on the internal combustion engine. This test unit for checking at the end of the conveyor belt can be operated with universal software because adaptation to various engine types can be carried out very easily.
By virtue of the fact that the cable harness can have a vehicle-specific design, simple adaptation to a wide variety of types of vehicle is possible, at the same time enabling the internal combustion engine to be connected universally both to the different types of cable harness and to the test device for checking at the end of the conveyor belt.
Because the central electrical engine controller can be mounted at an installation location in the vehicle body which is protected from temperature and ambient influences, there is no need for any costly shielding measures as against an installation location in the engine compartment.
The use of standardized plugs for the central corresponding plug of an internal combustion engine provides, in particular, the advantage that a high degree of standardization is possible both when different cable harnesses are used for the wide variety of vehicles and for the electrical connection to test units for functional checking.
In a further refinement of the invention there is provision for the central corresponding plug of the internal combustion engine to be placed at a standardized installation location. That is to say it is largely located always at the same point, even with different types of engine, as a result of which in particular the advantage of a large degree of automation of the functional checking after the internal combustion engine has been mounted is made possible.
Finally, a further embodiment of the invention provides for the connecting section of the cable harness to have a vehicle-specific minimum length between the second central electrical plug-type connection terminal of the internal combustion engine and the first central electrical plug-type connection terminal for the connection of the cable harness to a central electronic engine controller. This has in particular the advantage that no excessively costly shielding measures for the cable connection between the internal combustion engine and engine controller are necessary. Such shielding measures are necessary and prescribed owing to the requirement for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) of all electronic components in the motor vehicle.
A further object of the invention is to make available a simple method, which can be automated, for functional checking of an internal combustion engine after it has been mounted.
This object of the invention is achieved with a method for the functional checking of an internal combustion engine which is provided for installation in a motor vehicle directly after it has been mounted and before its installation in the motor vehicle to comprise at least the following steps: directly after it has been mounted and before its installation in the motor vehicle, an electrical connection is produced between a standardized central corresponding plug for the electrical connection of the internal combustion engine to a central plug-type connection terminal, corresponding thereto, of a vehicle-specific cable harness and a test device. This test device is capable of simulating various operating states and functional checking of the internal combustion engine and running through different test programs. The results of the functional checking are logged here and it is subsequently possible to take a decision about the freedom from faults of the internal combustion engine. Before its transportation onward to the envisaged mounting location in the motor vehicle, internal combustion engines which are assessed as being faulty can be separated off. This method has the advantage that it can be automated to a high degree and at the same time has a large degree of universality because the wide variety of types of internal combustion engine can easily be connected using respectively standardized electrical plug-type connection terminals to a test unit whose test software can easily be adapted to the respective type of engine.
Further advantageous developments of the invention can be found in the dependent claims and the following description of the figures.
The invention is explained in more detail below by means of a preferred exemplary embodiment and with reference to the drawing.